David from Kansas
Well-known Member
My son owns a JD 4230 he bought used about 40 years ago to use as a round baler tractor. He did custom baling for many years
with little maintenance required on the tractor, but recently it has gotten really hard to start, loss of power, etc.
Today while riding with him we drove by the 4230 attached to a bale processor and he commented on having overhauled the
tractor and now it will start easily at temps in the teens compared to having to use starting fluid previously to start it
each and every time in the summer. I think this tractor has 20K plus hours on it. He is a JD mechanic and does most of the
mechanical work on his many tractors, combines, swathers, trucks, etc. I remember reading on this site about the difficult
problems with the JD 30 series tractors and recommendations to always replace valves and seats when overhauling these
tractors as low engine compression is what is causing the hard starting in many cases and I believe that was true with my
son's 4230.
with little maintenance required on the tractor, but recently it has gotten really hard to start, loss of power, etc.
Today while riding with him we drove by the 4230 attached to a bale processor and he commented on having overhauled the
tractor and now it will start easily at temps in the teens compared to having to use starting fluid previously to start it
each and every time in the summer. I think this tractor has 20K plus hours on it. He is a JD mechanic and does most of the
mechanical work on his many tractors, combines, swathers, trucks, etc. I remember reading on this site about the difficult
problems with the JD 30 series tractors and recommendations to always replace valves and seats when overhauling these
tractors as low engine compression is what is causing the hard starting in many cases and I believe that was true with my
son's 4230.